Eagles end 29-year drought

Cumberland Valley upends Wilson in overtime to win state water polo championship

 

The last time the Cumberland Valley men’s water polo team won a state championship, none of the players on this year’s team had been born yet. And their coach was just 4 years old.

 

But the state water polo record books have a new page added as the Eagles upended the tournament’s number 1 seed Wilson High School to take the 2008 state title in a thrilling, come-from-behind overtime victory 12-11.

 

Pool Play – Game 1

The weekend state tournament play began Friday night at North Penn High School with the Eagles taking a first round 8-3 win over North Allegheny. With the Eagles leading 3-1 at the half, the opening minutes of the third quarter saw junior Johnny Kesler fire at the goal to have it bounce off the goalie’s chest, pick up the rebound and put it in the goal to spark a 6-2 run by the Eagles going into the final quarter. Senior Kenny Milburn sealed the win with two goals in the fourth quarter to give the Eagles the 8-3 victory. Milburn led the scoring in this game with three goals, Kesler added two goals and one assist and junior Andrew Hamilton added another pair of goals.

 

Pool Play – Game 2

The Eagles jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead over host North Penn in the 8 a.m. contest, but the Knights defense quieted the Eagles for the rest of the first quarter and they took a 4-2 lead going into the second. Senior Pat Daley and Kesler helped the Eagles charge back to tie the game at 5-5 at the half. The Knights offense came out firing in the third quarter as they scored three goals and Daley added two to take an 8-7 lead going into the final quarter of play. The Knights offense added two more goals and their defense held the Eagles to just two more scores as they held on for a 10-9 victory. Daley led the scoring with four goals and one assist. Kesler added two goals and two assists and Hamilton also added two scores.

 

Pool Play – Game 3

Knowing that they needed a win in their final pool play game over Souderton – and after receiving some help from North Allegheny who defeated North Penn and mathematically made it possible for the Eagles to make it to the state championship round if they defeated Souderton – the Eagles wasted no time in the water and stunned second seeded Souderton with a 5-1 run in the first quarter. The second quarter saw a lot of tough, defensive play and senior Eagle goalie Adam Wenner ramped up and owned the net as shot after shot by Souderton was deflected. With a 6-2 lead at the start of the third quarter, the Eagles came out firing again and rocked Souderton back on their heels taking a 9-2 lead with 3:05 to play in the quarter.

 

The Eagles were dealt a blow soon after when Daley was kicked-out in the third quarter and the Souderton Big Red wasted no time in attempting a final run for a victory. Souderton scored five unanswered goals to pull to a 9-7 Eagle lead  with 5:03 remaining in the game. Wenner again played large in the net and dashed Souderton’s hopes for a comeback. With just 18 seconds left, Kesler added a final goal to seal the deal 10-7 and set the stage for the state title game with Wilson.

Daley and Hamilton combined for three goals each and Hamilton added four assists. Kesler and Milburn each added two goals.

 

State Championship

 

The stage was set in front of a filled-to-capacity natatorium. Wilson had defeated Cumberland Valley 12-9 on September 18th and CV returned the favor by spanking the Bulldogs in their house 16-11 on October 23rd.  The game was the tie breaker between the two teams for the season and most importantly, the chance for one of the teams to lay their hands on the state championship trophy.

 

At 6:10, Kesler put the Eagle fans on their feet to scream for the game’s first goal of the night. Wilson came back with three unanswered goals to go up 3-1. At the 2:06 mark, Hamilton added an Eagle goal followed by a quick Daley steal and a score on the break-away to tie the game at 3-3 at the end of the first. Wilson senior standout Jack Ruth opened the second quarter with two unanswered goals at the 6:23 and 4:51 marks, but that was the only scoring Wenner permitted for the rest of the quarter as he again owned the net. The Eagles offense kept flying as Milburn scored two goals and Kesler added one to give the Eagles a 6-5 lead at the half.

 

The Bulldogs pulled their offensive triggers in the third quarter as they scored four times to just one goal by Kesler for a 9-7 Bulldog lead at the end of the third quarter. As Wenner rejected the Bulldogs at the net on their first two trips down to their end of the pool, Daley began the Eagle rally at the 4:30 mark to pull the Eagles to 9-8. With 3:20 remaining in regulation play, Kesler found the net again to tie the score at 9-9. Screaming Eagle fans were temporarily quieted at the 2:53 mark as Wilson went up with what they thought was the game winning shot and a 10-9 lead. With the clock quickly ticking away and possibly the hopes of a state title with it, Hamilton had other ideas. With just 10 seconds left on the clock and the water churning and players scrambling for the ball in front of the net, Hamilton came out with the ball and scored on a game-tying sweep shot in the right corner of the goal to send the game into overtime and put the Eagle faithful on their feet yet again.

 

In the first of two three-minute overtime periods, the teams swam to both ends of the pool and came up empty. With just 55 seconds remaining, the Bulldogs found the net and went up 11-10 going into the final of the first overtime period. Again, the offense was quiet for both teams until the 2:16 mark when the Eagles were given a five-meter penalty shot. Daley pulled the trigger for CV and found the back of the net to tie the game at 11-11.

 

As time was running out with just 25 seconds on the clock, sophomore speedster Chad Schmidt grabbed a steal and began the half-pool sprint to the Eagles end. As he pulled back to fire the possible game winning shot, Schmidt was fouled from behind by the Bulldogs and the Eagles were again given a five meter penalty shot. Daley went center stage, pulled back and the thump from the game-winning 12th Eagle score was quickly drowned out by the screams of the ecstatic CV faithful.

 

The Eagles held off the Bulldogs for the final seconds of play and held on for the 12-11 OT victory as the Eagle players and coaches jumped in the pool for the victory celebration.

 

Daley finished the game with four goals and five assists. Kesler added another four and Milburn and Hamilton each added two. Wenner tallied 11 saves in the state title game.

 

In addition to the state title, the Eagles ended the season with Daley and Hamilton being named to the First Team All State, Wenner took Second Team All State honors and Kesler and Milburn were named to the Third Team All State.

 

The Eagles were coached to an overall season record of 32-5 by Corey Pelow, Sheri Johnson and Becki Dimoff.